So tell me: I know a club with the name Rising Sun might have its Christmas party on, oh, say, December 7th, but what is one to do with the 61st anniversary of V-J day?

Are we :D or :( ?

(Of course, being defeated by the US in war seems to be a smart business decision if Japan's experience is a guide, wherein one is assisted in industrialization, prosperity, quality of product, and profitability, enabling one to exact the best possible long-term revenge...)

I guess that means both sides won after a fashion...

Uncle Ben

08-14-2006, 03:08 PM

So tell me: I know a club with the name Rising Sun might have its Christmas party on, oh, say, December 7th, but what is one to do with the 61st anniversary of V-J day?

Are we :D or :( ?

(Of course, being defeated by the US in war seems to be a smart business decision if Japan's experience is a guide, wherein one is assisted in industrialization, prosperity, quality of product, and profitability, enabling one to exact the best possible long-term revenge...)

I guess that means both sides won after a fashion...

Both sides also lost terribly! :(

Kipper

08-14-2006, 03:16 PM

Sounds like a great excuse to consume some sushi and saki :D

...and if the Christmas party is on or near the 7th this year, I'm going to miss it. We'll be in Hawaii at the ceremony honouring Pearl Harbor veterans, including my wife's great uncle Kermit, yes the Kermit Tyler mentioned here (http://www.time.com/time/sampler/article/0,8599,128065,00.html), who is 95, still drives, is sharp as a tack. This will probably be one of Kermit's last trips back and a truly historical event for our family.

LOL - just did a google search and found this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6564890070&category=585

that's uncle Kermit!

wesintl

08-14-2006, 03:33 PM

that's uncle Kermit!

I've read about him on my way to a minor in History. It's too bad he's be villified and portrayed the way he was. I think everyone in his position would have said the same thing.

Now.. Onto sashimi and i'll take a kirin :)

Crash

08-14-2006, 06:53 PM

Both sides also lost terribly! :(

Amen. My father was a Naval Aviator headed for the South Seas on V-J Day.
He has never been happy with the fact that I drive Toyotas. He wasn't quite so biased towards a BMW I had at one time. The first time I wore a TEQ cap in his presence and he asked what it stood for, it was a little uncomfortable to explain. More pro-US sentiment than anti-anything but it's obvious he hasn't forgotten Pearl Harbor. That I am a member of the Rising Sun Club does not get brought up.

Hulk

08-14-2006, 07:49 PM

When I used to live in Chicago, I thought that "Rising Sun" was the dumbest club name I had ever heard of. The club name was probably why I waited a year after buying my FJ40 before showing up to a meeting -- it just was weird. Of course, once I met the club, the name never bothered me.

I figure that back in 1981, all the Toyota guys who formed the club chose the name "Rising Sun" as a giant middle finger to the Jeep guys who always hassled them about driving Japanese rigs. The name was definitely designed to get a reaction.

Uncle Ben

08-14-2006, 08:30 PM

I remember back when I was one officer or another I recieved a very nasty and long letter from an older lady who lost her father and mother at Pearl. She was appauled that a group of folks in the US would call themself "Rising Sun!" She also made the comment that being called RS was already bad but if we displayed the Rising Sun flag on our vehicles we were as low as Neo Nazis.

I wonder if that lady was proud that we heated up Hiroshima to 1million calvin?

Hulk

08-14-2006, 09:55 PM

A few years back, in the mid-90s, I had a client who started his own financial consulting business. He operated for a few years using the name "Axis Financial Consulting." None of us saw anything wrong with the name; we all though it was great -- y'know, things revolve around an axis. Made sense. Then he had a client who told him the name was offensive: reminded him of Germany, Japan and Italy, the Axis Powers of WWII.

My buddy changed the name soon thereafter.

Of course, he probably wouldn't have chosen the name if he'd started the business post-2000. Since GWB made his "Axis of Evil" speech, the word Axis has been back in the limelight in a negative way.

Red_Chili

08-15-2006, 07:02 AM

Wow, this thread took a serious turn. What I thought might be a buzz-kill is actually really interesting; esp. Uncle Kermit. Whodathunkit?

I think a club named Rising Sun is kinda like the Harley/Chevy craze in Japan. It speaks well of the fact that former enemies are now fast friends and allies, despite unthinkable cruelty and tragedy. We did the right thing helping Japan prosper and enter the 20th century and democracy. The fact we drive Toys is testimony to its success. Especially meaningful when you realize just how much the US had to overcome emotionally (and to overcome not a little racism), just emerging from a terrible terrible war, in order to treat an enemy with magnanimity.

RE: the perceptions of a generation past- anyone read Flags of our Fathers? Inspired by Iwo Jima, and the author's father was one of the famed flagraising Marines/Corpsmen. Most excellent read, including the author's self-reflection on his youthful arrogance and pro-Japanese view of WWII while his father sat at the table biting his tongue. The book is rather an act of contrition you might say.